Stop the Corporate Take-over
Did you know that Centene, a massive US private insurer is quietly taking over GP surgeries, via its company, The Practice Group (TPG)? It also has a 40% stake in Circle, and Circle has a big stake in the NHS.
Why should we be worried?
There is a precedence for Centene to take over entire populations in public health systems, for example, in Spain. It has now reverted to public ownership because of the lack of competitors, fraud, corruption and financial shenanigans.
A risk to continuity of care
Centene (also trading in the UK as Operose) has a history of withdrawing from unprofitable contracts, including one in complex care, leaving people in limbo as to who will provide their care and the NHS to pick up the pieces.
This is a statement from Operose Healthcare which shows that it only cares about one thing, profits.
"Position at 31 December 2019 and future developments ... Rationalisation of our business activities… Has continued into 2020, as the business seeks to divest of activities that have not met profitability targets. As a result, on 31 March 2019, Operose Health Limited exited the Surrey Borders Partnership NHS Trust CAMHS contract, and on 1 July 2019, Operose Health (Group) UK Limited divested its complex care division, including the contracts and related assets."
The Green Party does not believe profits should come before people. So we are joining the fight to stop the corporate take-over of the NHS.
The Fight Back
A patient in London is so upset about the way her GP surgery was handed to TPG without any public or council oversight, that she is taking the CCG (CCGs organise who runs healthcare services in their area) to judicial review.
We can help to stop the creeping takeover of the NHS by supporting this campaign https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-our-gp-practices-being-sold-off-to-centene/
And by joining a demonstration being organised nationally but supported locally.
We'll be in touch about that later on.
This is a big deal.
- When the NHS has surplus money it ploughs the money back into the more complex services like A&E, when private companies have a surplus, it is channelled away as profit
- NHS services are being reduced and these companies will have no qualms in selling the services you can't get on the NHS, that's if you can afford it. The NHS is not a safety net system, it is a system we all pay into via general taxation. We all contribute.
Thanks for reading and we'll be in touch with more information soon.
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